MACON – Missouri Route 161/Route J in Montgomery County is currently closed for a bridge replacement. The project is at Interstate 70 near Danville. Upon demolition of the old bridge, crews determined that the ground material in which the new bridge foundation would be set was not what they had anticipated.
“For safety and stability, we had to step back and do some redesign before beginning construction on the new bridge,” said MoDOT Area Engineer Erik Maninga, P.E. The time taken to redesign has caused a delay in the timeframe for project completion.
The new bridge is now expected to be completed and open in November.
“We are sorry for the delay, but felt we had to re-evaluate to ensure we were building the safest bridge possible,” said Maninga. “We appreciate everyone’s patience as we continue progress on constructing the bridge,” he added.
Upon completion the new bridge will be 20 feet wider than the old bridge. Lehman Construction, LLC of California, Missouri, was awarded the project.
For more information contact MoDOT's Customer Service Center toll-free at 1-888-ASK MoDOT (275-6636). All information for this project can be found on our website at http://www.modot.org/northeast/major_projects/montgomery.htm. We also encourage motorists to sign up for email and text alerts at https://www6.modot.mo.gov/eMoDOTWeb/jsp/signon/signon.jsp so that they can receive notifications on this project, as well as, other work planned around the region.